The Price
by DarthLexxor
Summary: From the moment you step into UA, everyone you know and love must be prepared. Prepared for you to pay the price all heroes must be willing to pay.


**Some of you may wonder why I have re uploaded The Price, the reason is simple:**

 **It wasn't meant for you guys.**

 **Short version is that it was a project that I put on here to see if anyone liked my ideas. Long version is down below, and I hope you all enjoy the changes. If not, shoot me a pm and let me know why!**

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 **As always, only the plot is mine.**

 **The Price**

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*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BE-CRUNCH* Izuku groaned as he removed his hand from the lump of plastic. Rolling back over he found the other side of the bed empty and cold. He sighed at the knowledge that he wouldn't get anymore sleep. He took his last sleeping pill the night before, and he couldn't close his eyes without seeing it all again. The blinking light on his phone made him groan as he picked it up, and wince as he looked at a screen that was way too bright for this hour. He saw the usual texts from his friends, them trying to get him out of his apartment for something other than work, trying to pretend like it could all be normal again. Like it could ever be normal again.

He saw the texts from his friends, but his eyes always went to the ones from his girlfriend…..no, ex-girlfriend. He felt his mood drop at her picture smiling at him from her contact profile. As if mocking him, telling him that he would never be allowed to forget. Forget the sight of a drunk girlfriend making out with an even drunker best friend. Forget a now sober girlfriend telling you that she doesn't feel the same spark anymore and it's all your fault. Forget the feeling of your best friend's jaw across your knuckles when he came to give an apology. Forget your other friends being split apart between you two. Forget everything that came later.

He contemplated deleting the messages without even looking at them, but he knew he wouldn't. He read each and every one of them again. He always did. Everytime he got a new message he wound up rereading them. Their timid and nervous early friendship. The moment she lost her nervousness. The moment he did the same. That text he sent with shaking fingers asking her out. Her ecstatic yes. The hours and hours of conversations the two had about anything and everything. He was always crying by the time he could see their relationship plateauing, though he almost made it to the plateau this time.

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 _ **Sent 9:15**_ _Saw you on the news again. Great job!_ _ **Read 11:42**_

 _ **Sent 10:36**_ _You hear about Kirishima asking Ashido out?_ _ **Read 2:15**_

 _ **Sent 3:07**_ _I got tickets for that movie you had wanted to see, does 7:45 work?_

 _ **Received 5:04**_ _Sure._

 _ **Sent 5:52**_ _Hey Ochako. Tried calling, but you must be busy. Anyways, I know things have been kinda tense between us, but I'd like to get back where we used to be, you know? Anyways, Ahsido and Kirishima are throwing a big party and I'd love it if you would come with me._

 _ **Received 6:12**_ _Definitely. It will give us a chance to talk._

 _ **Sent 9:42**_ _Hey, Denki and Kyoka are wasted. I'm gonna drive them home before they do something stupid._

 _ **Received 9:43**_ _Your going to miss the couples dance?_

 _ **Sent 9:43**_ _Wouldn't dream of it! I'll be right back._

 _ **Sent 9:44**_ _I love you._ _ **Read 9:44**_

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 _Neither were in any condition to drive and he rarely drank. Plus it gave him an excuse for the surprise he had planned. After he dropped his friends off, he went back to the party. Opening the trunk he pulled out the single rose he had gotten her, straightened his outfit, and tried to go back inside. Only for two of his closest friends to try and keep him from going in. He thought they were joking around or didn't want him to see some surprise or something, but eventually he slipped away and went in….. To see his girlfriend and best friend lip locked, while everyone else had come to a complete stop. Seeing the crowd stop, the dj stopped the slow music and went to see what was going on. A few moments after the music stopped, the two broke apart, and saw everyone staring. Then they saw him. Rose still in hand. Tears running down his face. Hand bleeding from his grip on the thorny stem of the rose._

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He thumbed over the small scars on that hand while he read his requests for them to talk.

 _ **Sent 7:23**_ _Ochako, please answer the phone. We need to talk. We can work this out._

 _ **Received 8:01**_ _There is nothing to discuss. You are so content with us being a couple when it suits you, but when I need you, someone else does more. No matter how many pro heroes are out there, only the mighty Deku can save the day!_

 _You don't care about us. You're just upset that I was with Katsuki. Well here's the thing, I'm tired of ALWAYS being number two in your eyes. When we started dating, I felt like one of the most important people on the planet. But over time, you stopped being with me. Your mind was always somewhere else. Someone else always needed you more than I did._

 _Well I came to realize that you were right. They did need you more than me, because I don't need you. It's over Izuku._

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He hadn't gone to work that day. Due to his previously perfect record, people were concerned when he didn't, his mentor even stopping by to make sure he was okay. He remembered the rail thin man listening without interruption to his broken heart, hugging him as if to say ' _It'll be alright...eventually.'_ Then the knock at the door that evening. His best friend, for the first time in his life, looking downright remorseful. His friend's apology and the way every word lit a fire in him. The moment he knew he was going to start a fight. The way his friend took every punch, as if to make up for what he had done.

The way his friend lay, bruised and bloodied, as he ranted and raved about how his friend just had to take every bit of his happiness. Then his own guilt and the way he screamed "JUST GET OUT AND LEAVE ME ALONE!" The fact he cried himself to sleep that night while cradling his bruised knuckles.

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 _ **Received 7:02**_ _Katsuki showed up to work today beat to hell and back. He won't tell anyone how it happened, so it must have been you. God, are you so petty that you would hurt your best friend over your mistake?_

 _ **Sent 7:10**_ _Quite frankly it is apparent that neither of you were ever my friends. So like I told him: Leave me alone._

 _ **Received 7:12**_ _It must be nice to be that high and mighty. Well I hate it and I. Hate. You._

 _ **Received 12:43**_ _I didn't mean that._ _ **Read 12:44**_

 _ **Received 4:00**_ _I'm sorry Izuku. I should never have said that._ _ **Read 1:02**_

 _ **Received 5:33**_ _I can't apologize if you won't answer the phone. Please. If you want to talk I'm going to our old spot under the bridge. I'll be there at 7._ _ **Read 6:00**_

He remembered the debate about whether he would even go. Then their conversation afterwards. The tension of just being friends in every text afterwards. The moment he started taking longer and longer to respond.

 _ **Received 7:00**_ _Hey Izuku, saw that you and Todoroki finally caught Dabi!_

 _ **Sent 7:32**_ _Thanks._

 _ **Received 3:00**_ _Hey, there's a group going to see that new All-Might movie tomorrow at 9, and I wondered if you wanted to go as well?_

 _ **Sent 5:45**_ _Sorry, already promised to go see it with Toshinori and my mom._

Eventually he stopped responding all together when he tried dating again. The first few months were disastrous. His high profile and baggage killed all of his early relationships, but eventually things started looking up after his friends helped him and Katsuki to reconcile. Katsuki had been blackout drunk, and only found out what he did the next day. It was never personal, but he still knew he had screwed up, that's why he let him vent on him. He needed to get that out before he talked to his ex.

He remembered his and Katsuki's awkward apologies, and their decision to put it behind them. After a while Ochako's texts slowed but never stopped. She tried to make small talk, and on bad days he thought about answering her, but in the end he would just leave her on 'read'. His next girlfriend helped him through that baggage however.

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 _He and Melissa had met while he was at UA, and stayed in contact throughout his career due to her inventions, and their shared connection to All-Might. To his surprise she asked him out. Their first date was not great to be honest. At the end he was waiting for the usual "I had fun. I'll call you!" except it didn't come. She just looked at him, her blue eyes seeming to pierce through him, and said "Look. I like you, or at least I liked who you were before all this. You got dealt a truly awful hand, but I think you can pick yourself up. Get whatever is bothering you out in the open, then call me, okay?"_

 _Then she gave him a kiss on the cheek,and walked away. His realization as he lay in bed that night, that he was still angry because Ochako had never apologized for destroying their relationship was like a light bulb going off. Since she was never going to apologize, and didn't really need to, why stress over it? He put her number on mute, and then called Melissa to set up another date the next morning. It went far better than the first, as did all the rest._

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As he kept reading, his puffy eyes now noticed the lul in her texts shortly after he started dating. He now would respond to a few here and there when he noticed them, and the two shifted into casual acquaintances, though he still would only talk business with her in person. But then he got to her last texts, and he put his phone down. Her asking if he was thought he was rushing things. Her subtle attempts to get him to slow down with Melissa. When she was trying to find out if he still was going to propose was more than he could bear this morning.

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 _They had found them. The league of villains would be stopped here and now. But they were too strong. As he waited for Tomura to finish him, the woman who had hurt him so much leapt in front of his enemy's deadly grasp. Her last words being: "You have to get back to Melissa. So end this for her." Watching his friend die all went silent, then he realized that was because he was screaming, his scream of pain and agony had frozen everyone in place. The years of pain, frustration, and regret reached their boiling point and his world went black._

 _When he awoke in a hospital, he would awake to his friends sleeping tightly packed around his bed. Eri and Kota in the bed beside him. His girlfriend must have felt him wake up as she woke up as well, sapphire blue eyes twinkling in relief and happiness. Despite their efforts soon everyone else was as well. After the kids had been sent out to get some snacks, he found out what had happened. Tomura and Toga were dead. The rest were in urgent care, but none died. When he asked about Ochako, everyone went silent. She was the only hero to die that day, though Eraser Head was in the hospital as well, and would likely never be a pro again. As he blinked back tears he felt his girlfriend's hand clasp his own, and as he looked into her teary blue eyes framed by her golden hair, he could almost believe it would be alright._

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He looked at his phone again, seeing that it was time for him to begin getting ready, and went to the bathroom. As he took the ring off of his finger and put it on the chain around his neck he tried to smile at the mirror, before removing the rest of his clothes as he got in the shower. When he finished, he dried off and put on his green and white super-suit, before walking out to the kitchen. There was a plate of eggs sitting on the counter and he felt himself chuckle at the note his wife had left him. He picked the plate up and went into the living room which had long ago been converted into a workshop to the apartment managers horror. But between his reputation, and his wife proving that it was quite soundproof, and the very real threat of what a bad word from him could do, the manager had reluctantly agreed.

To his complete lack of surprise he found his wife in the workshop. Long blonde hair pulled into a ponytail behind her, glasses almost precariously on the end of her nose, dressed in a very nice black dress, sitting cross legged on the floor, tongue sticking out of her mouth as she focused on soldering two computer parts together. He leaned against the frame, just taking in the sight and eating his eggs, doing his best not to disturb her. However, when a spark landed on her hand and she dropped the parts swearing, he chuckled, and she turned a fake death glare on him before chuckling herself.

"So you think your darling wife hurting herself is funny do ya hero?" She said as she stalked towards him, stopping about an inch from him, and looking up at him. "Yep" He took another bite of eggs. "Hmph." She said then tried to steal some of his eggs, only for him to swat her hand. "Wash em first. Then I'll share." She rose on her tiptoes and gave him a peck on the lips. "You're no fun!" Then as she walked away, exaggerating each step to ensure he was still looking at her, she lifted the bit of egg she had nabbed and ate it. "Mel, come on!"

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It was almost an hour before the two of them were walking out the door. He had given chase after the egg incident, and that had ended with the two of them laughing on the bed, Melissa somehow on top despite the fact that he could easily flip the situation if he wanted. She gave him a deeper kiss than before, and the two just held each other for a bit, before being forced to get up to avoid being late. As the two walked out the door of their apartment complex, they smoothed out their clothes, and stepped into the black limo awaiting them. The friends that had chosen to ride with them, were all already here, each in their super-suits or black dress clothing. Not a word was spoken throughout the ride, but he never let Melissa's hand go, and she didn't seem to be in any hurry to take it back. As the car pulled up to the gates of their destination, he wondered why it never rained at times like this like in the movies.

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As he walked through the crowd of fellow people in black, Katsuki approached, the blonde's usually wild hair gelled down. His usual smirk or defiance was absent as well, as he put his hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "You don't have to do this."

"Yes I do." Izuku said, then walked through the crowd and onto the podium. Melissa and Katsuki followed him up, each standing to his side, while behind him all of his and his ex's friends stood. And as he looked into the crowd, some of whom were already crying, he took a breath and began to speak:

"We are here today, because of evil. Human evil. Ochako Uraraka didn't have an ounce of it in her body. No, she spent every day fighting it. Her war was one you would never know about. She fought every time she smiled. Everytime she said a kind word, told a joke, or just gave a hug to let you know that the world was not gone."

He felt himself choking up, and he steeled his nerves. "Everyone here has a story to tell. A story of the kind of woman Ochako had grown into. A woman who was loving, loyal, fearless, selfless, and empathetic. Ochako was one of my best friends. And later, something more. That was not meant to be, yet she remained one of my closest friends." He felt the shame at his lie rise, but he pushed it down. "Above all, she was a hero. A hero that doubted her motives, even though they the most noble out of any of us. She…. saved my life. She gave her life so that I could be here…."

He was crying now, and Melissa had put a hand on his shoulder. "She died so that I could come home to my fiance." Looking back over the crowd, his eyes hardened. "She died so that human evil could be stopped. She was a hero, and she paid the price that all heroes must be willing to pay….." He only just made it off of the platform before collapsing into Melissa. Katsuki looped an arm around, and helped them sneak away from the outside service. All three of them sat at a distance, softly crying, as a hero was laid to rest.

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 **Long version: When I made this originally, it was for some friends of mine, and I wanted to see if they could piece together who the story was about and what was happening before the end. I uploaded it to Fan fiction because I enjoyed it, and I wanted to see if you guys would as well. And you did. As such I was inspired to release my other works: Monster's Run, It's not the mask you wear, and For your eyes only. But this was where it started for me. As such when I was re reading it the mystery aspect didn't translate well. You already know who is in the story and what universe it is. So I decided to re upload it, but focus more on the journey than the vagueities that plagued the beginning.**

I hope you all enjoyed it. If so shoot me a pm. If not, shoot me a pm. Yall are how I grow. But for now, all stories must end, and this one has finally told it's last tale.


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